Tutorial: Set up a complementary search engine in Cliqz browser

As an addition to the built-in quick search you can use a complementary search engine in the Cliqz browser. In this tutorial we explain how to set up a complementary search engine as default in just a few steps.

As you type, the Cliqz browser displays the three most relevant results for your query inside a drop-down menu. Clicking on one of these links takes you straight to the respective website, and allows you to skip the step of going to a search engine results page with a long list of potential results. This works particularly well when searching with a navigational intent, i.e. if you want to quickly visit a particular site. For deeper research you can use a complementary search engine in Cliqz for Desktop as well as Cliqz for Android and Cliqz for iOS. Google is set as default, but the pick list also includes anonymous search engines such as DuckDuckGo or Startpage. In addition, on desktop you can set up any other search engine from the official Mozilla Firefox directory as a supplement to the Cliqz quick search. Our step-by-step guide shows you how to do this using Qwant as an example:

Open the browser settings. To do this, click on the “burger menu” (the three horizontal lines) in the upper right corner and select “Options” or “Preferences”.

Select the “Search” tab on the left.

On the right, you’ll see the link “Add more search engines…” at the bottom. Click on it to get to the official Mozilla Firefox directory with all available search engine extensions.

Select a search engine in the directory by moving the mouse cursor over it and then clicking the “Add to Firefox” button.

Confirm the following request by clicking “Add”. At this point you have the option to set the search engine you selected as default service for the additional search in the Cliqz browser. Just click on the box next to “Make this the current search engine”.

You will now find the added search engine in the list of complementary search engines. With a double click into the column “Keyword” you can enter a shortcut beginning with the pound key (#). In our example, we choose #qw for Qwant. If you type this shortcut followed by your search query into the address bar, you see the option to go straight to this service prefilled with the respective results. This is helpful if you have set one search engine as default, say Google, but would like to see search results using another service like Qwant.

Via a drop-down menu on the preferences tab “Search” you can select which complementary search engine is used by default. Alternatively, the complementary search engine can also be set via the Control Center (Q symbol to the right of the URL bar). The pick list can be found under “More Search Options”.

If none of the Cliqz Quick Search results is what you are looking for, press “Enter” twice to go to the results pages of the additional search engine you have defined.

In Cliqz for Android and iOS, you can also specify a complementary search. However, no additional search engines can be added here. Use the following steps to change the default setting for the complementary search:

Android

In the top right corner of the Cliqz browser, tap the triple-dot menu button and select “Settings”.

Select “General” at the top of the settings menu.

In the General submenu, click on “Complementary search engine”.

Select one of the listed alternatives and confirm with OK.

iOS

In the Cliqz browser, tap the tab icon in the lower right corner.

Select “Settings” in the upper right corner.

Tap “Search” in the settings menu under “General”.

Select one of the listed alternatives for the complementary default search engine.